People: Cooper Parry; Vail Williams; Evelyn Partners; and more

On the back of launching its ambitious new plans to grow fivefold in five years, Cooper Parry has announced another significant appointment to boost its leadership line-up.

Phil Erridge recently joined the firm as chief operating officer after 16 years with HSBC where he led HSBC’s global wholesale model management and delivery function.

Hebrings experience of taking on a number of significant senior roles with HSBC. These include leading the integration activities of the global Wholesale COO organisation, creation of a data-led customer experience and sales function. And managing the commercial bank’s financial crime risk function globally.

Cooper Parry is driving growth across new and existing opportunities and markets following significant recent investment from Waterland Private Equity.

Working alongside CEO Ade Cheatham and Cooper Parry’s leadership team, Erridge will lead the firm’s integration activities across several strategic acquisitions and drive operational efficiency.
Cheatham said: “I’m delighted to welcome Phil to the CP family. His role as COO will be invaluable as we target significant and ambitious growth over the next five years. And now with substantial PE investment behind us, having someone with Phil’s global breadth of experience and can-do attitude is both timely and terrific.”

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Expanding property consultancy Vail Williams has boosted its West Midlands region with the appointment of a senior surveyor.

Joseph Brady, who was previously with Carter Jonas and latterly the West Midlands Combined Authority, is based in the Birmingham office.

He is responsible for providing property valuations for retail, office, industrial and residential property.

He provides valuation advice for lending and investment purposes to a variety of lenders and private clients.

He said: “I am so pleased to have joined Vail Williams. I have a great deal of surveying experience behind me which I hope to utilise to provide a second-to-none service for our valued clients. It’s work I understand and work I can do well.

“I really like the atmosphere and environment of Vail Williams. The Birmingham office is a growing, vibrant place and there are really good people. I also like the LLP, the smaller firm with a personal touch where you are not just a number and there are tangible opportunities.”

Partner Stephen Hobbs, Vail Williams’ head of valuation in Birmingham, said: “Joseph is an experienced all-rounder who brings a lot of knowledge to our team. He is also brimming with ideas on how to drive the business forward and I have great hopes for him.”

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Evelyn Partners, the wealth management and professional services group created from the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson, has announced the appointment of Paul Fidoe as business development director to help grow the firm’s professional connections with solicitors and accountants in the Midlands and South West. He will be based out of Evelyn Partners’ Bristol and Birmingham offices.

He has 33 years wealth management experience and joins Evelyn Partners from Barclays, where he spent the last 22 years in various roles. Most recently he was regional business development manager at Barclays Wealth & Investment Management. Prior to that he was regional director at Barclays Premier.

At Evelyn Partners he will become part of an eight-strong team who are focused on developing relationships with professional partnerships across the country. The team partners with solicitors, accountants and other professional firms to help them manage their clients’ wealth and businesses.

Michael Hanlon, managing partner at Evelyn Partners, said: “We see there is a considerable opportunity to further increase the work that we do in partnership with professional firms by providing high quality wealth management and business solutions to help them best manage their clients’ affairs. Paul brings valuable industry experience which will help support our growth strategy and I am delighted to welcome him on board.”

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ValiRx, a Nuneaton-based life science company focused on early-stage cancer therapeutics and women’s health, has bolstered its drug discovery and therapeutic expertise with the appointment of Dr Cathy Tralau-Stewart as its interim chief scientific officer (CSO).

With more than 20 years senior academic and industry leadership experience, She joins ValiRx from drug discovery company C4X Discovery, where she was CSO and managed the project portfolio and research and development (R&D) strategy.

Prior to this, she was senior director of alliances for Takeda Pharmaceuticals where she was responsible the strategic development and management of academic alliances for the US, Australia, Japan, and Europe.

ValiRx CEO Dr Suzy Dilly said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with Cathy, whose wealth of experience in many therapeutic areas including oncology, respiratory, inflammation and neurosciences make her the ideal fit for this role. Cathy’s in-depth knowledge of drug discovery and the translation of early research innovation into drug discovery programmes will be invaluable as we work together to share ideas and develop and deliver on ValiRx’s strategic ambitions.”